Spotify launches an audiobooks service in the US with 300,000 titles, letting users purchase and download individual books to play in its app (J. Clara Chan/The Hollywood Reporter)

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Denmark-based Podimo, a subscription service for podcasts and audiobooks, raised €58.6M led by 83North, Highland, and Saban, bringing its total funding to €162M  —  Listen up: Podimo, the Denmark-based subscription service for podcasts and audiobooks, said it secured €58.6 million …

Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Spotify releases Wrapped 2022 for users, adding a “music personality” feature, and says Joe Rogan, Emma Chamberlain, and others were its top podcasters  —  Spotify Wrapped is here, and with it, a slew of year-end charts, data, and graphics ripe for sharing.

Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers:
Qualcomm announces the Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 and Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 for wireless audio gear with support for spatial audio, improved ANC, lossless music, and more  —  The new SoCs are optimized for Bluetooth LE Audio and unlock several premium audio experiences

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Some YouTube users say the service is asking them to purchase a Premium subscription to watch videos in 4K, a feature that is currently free for all users  —  YouTube’s Premium paid subscription includes benefits like ad-free viewing, video and song downloads for offline consumption, and background plays.

Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:
Spotify reports Q3 revenue up 21% YoY to €3.04B, MAUs up 20% YoY to 456M vs. 448.6M est., and Premium subs up 13% YoY to 195M; stock drops 6%+ on ad growth miss  —  Audio streaming service Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) Tuesday surpassed Wall Street’s estimates for revenue and subscriber gains …

The Verge:
Spotify updates its iOS app to remove audiobook purchasing options, saying in a message to users that “it’s not ideal”, to comply with Apple’s App Store rules  —  An update for Spotify’s iOS app released Thursday had a big change for its audiobooks vertical — and not for the better.